


You Lost Your Shoe

by localspacelesbian



Category: Andi Mack (TV), Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Descendants Au, F/F, F/M, Homophobia Mentioned, M/M, Mild Language, basically just the movie but with the andi mack kids because i'm trash, villains are bad parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-19 09:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19354612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian
Summary: Soon-to-be King Cyrus, the son of Cinderella, announces his first royal decree: to bring four children from the Isle of the Lost over to Auradon.aka the Andi Mack Descendents AU no one asked for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> someone said cinderella au, and for some reason i took that and made a descendants au

It was Sunday evening, which in the Charming family, meant family dinner. It was the only time of the week Cyrus was able to see his parents, what with them being busy ruling the country and all, and with him being busy with school and preparing for his upcoming coronation. He had decided what he wanted his first Royal Decree to be and was trying to find a way to tell his parents about it before bringing it to the Council. He was pretty sure that at least his mom would approve of it, but it was pretty big, and he was nervous to ask them about it. He spent most of the meal trying to psych himself up, and he was pretty sure his parents had noticed that he wasn’t really participating in the conversation as much as he usually did.

“Cyrus, honey, is there something on your mind?” Dang, his mom could always read him too well.

He looked up from his food at his parents, who were sitting across the table from him. He took a deep breath. “I think I know what I want my first act as King to be.”

“Oh?” His parents stopped eating and gave him their full attention, which was slightly unnerving. After a moment of silence, his mom asked, “Well, are you going to tell us what it is?”

“I want to bring the kids from the Isle of the Lost over here to Auradon.”

It was a good thing his parents had stopped eating because Cyrus was pretty sure his dad would have choked on his food. “But they’re villains. They’re our greatest enemies.”

His mom stepped in before Cyrus had a chance. “They’re children, Henry. Their parents are our enemies, not them.”

“And what kind of lessons do you think villains teach their children?”

“And how do you think villains treat their children?” Cyrus noticed his dad glance quickly at his mom before looking back at him. Cyrus had prepared a list of reasons, and he was going to try to get through as many as it took. “Children shouldn’t be punished for the actions of their parents.”

His took a breath and calmed down slightly. “I suppose you do have a point about that. But how do you think this will go over with the citizens of Auradon? We have a duty to protect our people. This could put them in danger.”

“Are the people on the Isle not our people as well? Don’t we have a duty to protect them, too? Look, I know this will be difficult, and I know there will be backlash, but those kids don’t deserve to be on that island.” Cyrus took a deep breath to calm himself. “I was thinking we could just start with a few kids at first, maybe four, to see how it goes. And then we can bring more over later if it goes well.”

His mother reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “I think this is very noble of you, Cyrus. I think you’re right; those kids deserve better. I’m ashamed that I didn’t think of this myself. Have you thought about which kids you want to bring over first?”

Cyrus nodded. He had done his research and found what little information was available about the kids on the Isle. He had compiled a list of kids and narrowed it down to four, which he thought was too few but figured it would be the most he could get away with suggesting. “I was thinking Dr. Facillier’s daughter, Gaston’s son, and… Maleficent's twins.” He had to force himself to keep looking at his parents as he said the names.

“Maleficent?!” Yeah, that was about the reaction Cyrus was expecting from his dad. “She’s the worst villain of them all.”

“Exactly. Which is why her kids probably need this the most.” He tried to keep his voice as even and calm as possible when he spoke.

“Cyrus, honey, I think this is a great idea. And it sounds like you’ve done your research, and you really care about this. Your father and I will definitely be on your side when you bring this to the Council.”

His father looked over at his mom and then sighed and nodded in agreement. Cyrus let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. He was glad his parents were on board because this would be just about impossible without their support.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cyrus welcomes the new kids to Auradon Prep.

Cyrus stood outside the school with his friends and Fairy Godmother, waiting to welcome the new kids to Auradon. Eventually, the limo arrived and the four villain kids stepped out. The first one was clearly Maleficent's daughter; she had blonde hair and walked with confidence, like she was used to being in charge and taking what she wanted. She was closely followed by a boy who could only be her brother. Cyrus couldn’t help but notice how attractive the boy was, but he quickly shut that thought down before it could go anywhere. Despite his ‘tough guy’ exterior, he never left his sister’s side. Even as the two exited the limo and stepped up toward the group of people waiting for them, there didn’t seem to be a moment they weren’t touching. Next, followed Dr. Facilier’s daughter, who also gave off a very confident vibe, like she knew she was better than everyone else and wasn’t afraid to tell you. Finally, Gaston’s son stepped out of the limo. He also seemed confident, but it was a more playful and energetic confidence, less like he knew he was better than you and more like he was eager to find out if he was.

Once they were all out of the limo and standing in a slightly awkward line, Cyrus stepped up to them to introduce himself. “Welcome to Auradon. I’m Cyrus.” He held out his hand. He hoped his smile looked genuine and that his excitement was coming across more than his nervousness. They each shook his hand and introduced themselves.

“Amber.” She smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Cyrus had never really noticed someone’s eyebrows before, but hers seemed somehow intimidating.

“TJ.” He seemed bored to be here, but when he shook Cyrus’s hand, his smile was smaller, but somehow more genuine than his sister’s. Cyrus noticed that TJ had the most beautiful green eyes and quickly moved on to the next person before he got lost in them.

“Kira.” Like Amber, Kira gave a fake smile that was clearly trying to be intimidating. It didn’t work as well. Like TJ, she looked slightly bored, but did a much better job of hiding it.

“Marty.” He gave Cyrus a full, genuine smile as they shook hands.

Then, Fairy Godmother walked up to them and he introduced her. “This is Fairy Godmother. She’s the Headmistress here at the school.”

“Hello, kids. Welcome to Auradon Prep! We’re all so happy to have you here. If you ever need anything, just let me know. I’m sure the kids will be happy to show you where my office is when they give you the grand tour.” And with that, she stepped back and let Cyrus’s friends take her place.

“These are my friends: Andi, Buffy, and Jonah.” As he said their names gestured to each of them, and they gave a little wave. He noticed Marty give Buffy a look when he introduced her, and he almost felt bad for the poor kid if it meant what he thought it did. “And this is Iris.”  
“His girlfriend,” she clarified while putting her hand in his.

He noticed Amber and TJ both raise an eyebrow at that. Why were people always surprised that he had a girlfriend? Ok, so maybe he knew why, but he liked to think he wasn’t  _ that _ obvious. Cyrus pushed that thought away and continued on with welcoming the new students. “We’re going to show you around and help you get settled in. Follow me.” He explained the places and things they passed as they walked toward the dorms. There was a voice in his head telling him that no one was listening and no one cared, but he did his best to ignore it.

Eventually they reached the top of the stairs that led to the hallway where their dorms were. He turned back to everyone else and waited for them all to reach the top of the stairs. “Ok, so the boys’ dorms are to the left and the girls’ dorms are to the right.”

TJ raised an eyebrow at him again. “They split the dorms up by gender?”

Buffy looked at TJ like he was an idiot. “What else would they split them up by?”

TJ just shrugged. Cyrus noticed that his and Amber’s shoulders were still touching, and he got the feeling the two did not like to be separated. “It’s always been like that. I think it’s supposed to prevent inappropriate behavior between boys and girls,” he offered as an explanation.

He was pretty sure he heard Amber mutter, “What? Did they forget gay people exist?” and while he privately agreed with her, he decided to ignore it, as that opened up a whole can of worms he was not prepared to get into.

“If you have a problem with your living situation, you are always welcome to take it up with the headmistress, but for now, Marty and TJ are going to share one dorm, and Amber and Kira will share the other.” He noticed Amber give her brother a look Cyrus couldn’t even begin to understand, and TJ rolled her eyes at her in response. Then, they both looked at Cyrus and nodded. “Ok, good. So, Amber and Kira can follow the girls to your dorm and TJ and Marty can follow Jonah and me to yours.” Fortunately, they listened. He noticed Marty look back at the girls as they all walked away, before the four boys started walking in the opposite direction.

When they got to the room, Cyrus unlocked it and opened the door, letting TJ and Marty walk in first. Unlike TJ, Marty didn’t bother trying to hide his awe. “Woah dude, I’m pretty sure this room is bigger than my house. And I have three brothers.” Marty gave an exaggerated shudder, and TJ rolled his eyes.

Cyrus gestured for Jonah to hand him the packet of papers he had been holding. He held it up for TJ and Marty to see. “This has a bunch of different information you guys might need: a map of the castle; information about classes offered, which Fairy Godmother will explain to you more tomorrow; the school rules; and some other stuff like that.” Marty and TJ nodded. Cyrus set the packet down on the nearest desk, along with the two room keys. “And these are your keys to your room. You each get one. If you lose it, you have to go to Fairy Godmother to get a new one.” They nodded again. “Ok. We’ll let you two get settled in.” Looking at their bags, Cyrus figured that probably wouldn’t take them too long to unpack. “I’ll come get you guys for lunch in,” he looked at his watch, “about half an hour, and then we’ll give you a tour of campus, ok? Let me know if you need anything. My room is just down the hall; it’s room 201. And it’s got my name on the door in case you forget the number.” They nodded again, and with that, Cyrus and Jonah left the room, closing the door behind them.

Jonah put his hand on Cyrus’s arm. “You ok, Cy?”

Cyrus sighed. “Yeah, this is just a lot, you know? But it’s worth it.” He forced himself to smile. “Come on.”

The two walked over to Cyrus’s dorm, outside of which the girls were already waiting. He unlocked the door and let them follow him in. He collapsed onto his bed with a dramatic sigh. Iris came over and sat next to him while Buffy and Jonah sat on his couch and Andi sat on the floor. “So, what do you all think of them so far?”

Buffy was, of course, the first one to answer. “It’s hard to say. They haven’t exactly said much. But can we talk about how TJ totally checked you out like as soon as he stepped out of the limo?”

Cyrus rolled his eyes. “He did not.”

Iris agreed with Buffy. “Oh, he definitely did. And he seemed disappointed when I said I was your girlfriend.”

He leaned his head on Iris’s shoulder. “Even if he did, so what? It doesn’t mean anything. It can’t mean anything.” They couldn’t really argue with that; there was a reason he and Iris had been pretending to date for the past year. “Let’s talk about how Marty definitely checked out Buffy instead.” He smirked at her.

Buffy crossed her arms. “Yeah, right. You’re just trying to change the subject.”

Andi spoke up. “I mean, he definitely is, but he’s also right.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Cyrus almost hoped for Marty’s sake that she was right; Buffy didn’t have a history of reacting well when boys had crushes on her. “Ok, so aside from all that, what does everyone think of them?”

They all shrugged. Jonah said, “I think they seem cool.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “You think everyone seems cool. But I guess I have to admit, they seem better than I’m sure everyone was expecting.”

“What do you think, Cy? You’re supposed to be the one who’s good at reading people.”

Cyrus thought for a second before answering Andi’s question. “Well, they all seem very confident and sure of themselves, but I think it’s at least partially an act. TJ and Amber seem really close, like almost unhealthily. Out of the four of them, Marty seems the happiest to be here. He’s definitely the most talkative at least. I kind of get the vibe that Amber’s like their leader or something? But I feel like Kira wants to be? If that makes sense?”

“Yeah, no I got that vibe too, but I don’t know how to explain it,” Iris agreed.

Cyrus started to feel hungry, so he looked down at his watch and then back up at his friends. “Ok, it’s about lunch time. Who wants to go save us a table and who wants to go get Amber and Kira.”

Iris volunteered to get Amber and Kira, and the five of them got up and left the room. He walked down the hall to TJ and Marty’s room and knocked on the door.

Marty opened the door and smiled when he saw him. “Oh is it time to eat already? I’m starving.”

Cyrus smiled back. He was glad that Marty seemed excited. He hoped that he was exaggerating when he said he was starving; considering what little he knew about the Isle, he wouldn’t be too surprised if he wasn’t. “Yep, come on. The others are waiting in the cafeteria.” Marty and TJ followed him down the hall, where they met up with the girls before heading downstairs. He noticed that as soon as they were together again, the twins were immediately attached at the hip. It crossed his mind that the they might have an unhealthy codependency problem, but he pushed that thought away; it was far too soon to start psychoanalyzing them. Besides, they were probably just nervous because they were in a new place. Right?

When they got to the cafeteria, he noticed that the four VK’s stopped behind him and Iris. He turned back and saw that they looked a bit overwhelmed. “Ok. This is the cafeteria, where all of the meals are. I know it may seem like a lot, but I promise you’ll get used to it. Andi, Buffy, and Jonah should be saving us a table somewhere. But first, let’s get our food.” He walked over to the buffet tables and was glad when they followed him. “It’s a buffet, so you just grab a plate and take as much as you want. You can always come back for seconds, so don’t worry about trying to take everything that looks good. If you don’t know what something is, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m Cyrus Charming, and I’ll be your buffet tour guide.” He said the last part in a dramatic tour guide voice, hoping to get at least a smile from them. TJ gave him a little half-smile, which Cyrus counted as a win. He grabbed a plate and started filling it with food to show them how it worked. Marty looked like he wanted to go next, but he waited for Amber, which proved Cyrus’s theory that she was basically their leader correct. Or maybe Marty was just being polite, but Cyrus kind of doubted that, seeing as he definitely didn’t wait for Kira to go ahead of him. He did wait for TJ, but that was probably just because getting in between the twins was virtually impossible. They managed to make it through the line with Cyrus and Iris only having to explain a few of the food items. Then, they found the table their friends were at and sat down.

“So, what do you guys think of Auradon so far?” Andi asked them as they sat down.

Cyrus looked over at the four VK’s who all just shrugged.

Amber said, “Well, we haven’t seen much of it yet, but it seems… nice.”

“It’s very big,” Marty pointed out.

“It’s too bright.” Cyrus was pretty sure that was the first thing Kira said since she introduced herself to him. He nodded. Her comment made a depressing amount of sense; he thought about the dark clouds that always seemed to be above the Isle.

Cyrus looked at TJ, who was the only one of them who hadn’t said anything yet. “The food’s good.” He shrugged and went back to eating.

He looked back at his friends. None of them seemed to really know what to say. Luckily, Marty decided to fill the silence. “Can I ask you guys a question?”

“Of course,” Cyrus answered, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

“Who are all of your parents? I mean, I assume you all know who all of our parents are, so it only seems fair.”

Iris looked at him. “My mom is Belle.”

“Oh.” Marty’s smile fell from his face. “Um. I’m sorry about you know, my dad’s whole general existence.”

Iris smiled. “It’s fine. I know you’re not your dad, and I’m not my mom.”

Marty smiled at her and then looked over at Buffy. “So, what about you?”

Buffy’s looked at him challengingly. “See if you can guess.” Cyrus couldn’t stop himself from smiling at that. She always did this, and no one ever got it right. They always guessed…

“Princess Tiana?” He fell right into her trap, and Cyrus felt only slightly sorry for him.

Buffy raised her eyebrow and tilted her head to the side. She spoke to him like one might speak to a child. “Marty, do you think Princess Tiana is the only black person in Auradon.”

Marty’s smile vanished again as he realized his mistake. “Um… No?” Cyrus noticed everyone else at the table, including the other three VK’s, were trying not to laugh at him.

Andi eventually took pity on the boy. She put her arm around Buffy. “ _ Our _ mom is Mulan.”

Cyrus took a drink of his water to try to hide his laugh at the look of shock on all four VK’s faces.

“I’m almost scared to ask…”

“I’m adopted.”

There was a silence that lasted just a moment too long.

“My mom is Rapunzel.” Everyone looked over at Jonah who had a dopey smile on his face, as though he didn’t know what was going on, but Cyrus knew Jonah well enough to know that he had most likely done it on purpose to ease the tension at the table. Cyrus couldn’t be more grateful for his friend as everyone shook their heads and laughed at him.

 

After a, quite frankly, awkward lunch, Cyrus and Iris led the VK’s on a tour of the school grounds. It went pretty well, though the four didn’t say much the whole time. Then, they went back to the cafeteria where they were rejoined by their friends for dinner, which went slightly better than lunch. Marty kept trying (and failing) to flirt with Buffy. Cyrus was pretty sure Amber was flirting with Iris, which was somehow going better than Marty’s attempts with Buffy. Cyrus knew he should be offended or something, but he had to admire Amber’s confidence to flirt with a girl right in front of her boyfriend.

After he finished eating his food, Cyrus stood up and turned to Iris. “I’m going to get dessert. Do you want anything?”

“Sure, just get me whatever looks good. Thanks, babe.”

“You should bring me something, too.”

Cyrus looked at Buffy. “Get your own boyfriend to bring you food, Driscoll.” He probably would bring her something anyway, but he enjoyed teasing her.

Marty stood up at that. “I’ll get you something.”

Amber rolled her eyes and stood up too. “Dessert sounds good.” TJ and Kira quickly followed suit.

Cyrus led them over to the dessert table. He grabbed a plate for himself and got two cupcakes: chocolate for himself and strawberry for Iris. He was about to grab some cookies for Jonah and Andi when Marty asked him, “So, what does Buffy like?” He turned around and saw that all three of them were looking at the food on the table like they didn’t recognize any of it.

“If you’re trying to get Buffy to like you, which I can tell you right now is probably not going to work, your best bet is gonna be ice cream.” They all looked at him with varying levels of confusion.  _ Oh god, do they not have ice cream on the Isle? _ “Come on, I’ll show you.” He walked over the soft serve machine and set his plate on top of it. He grabbed a dish. “Ok, so this one is vanilla, this one is chocolate, and this one is twist, which both of them together.” He pointed at each of the three levers. “Chocolate is objectively the best flavor and the best way to any girl’s heart.” He pulled down the lever to fill the dish with chocolate ice cream. Then, he went over to the toppings and put some strawberries on it. He handed it to Marty. “This is Buffy’s favorite.”

“It’s cold?” Cyrus nodded. “What does it taste like?”

Cyrus handed him a spoon. “Go ahead. Try it. I can make Buffy another one.”

He watched as Marty took a bite. His eyes went wide. “Woah. That’s so good.”

Kira took the spoon from Marty and took a bite. “Woah. I want one.”

He watched as Amber grabbed the spoon out of Kira’s hand and also took a bite of Marty’s ice cream. She seemed just as amazed by the frozen dessert as the other two.

She handed the spoon to her brother, who took a bite. TJ made an almost identical face to his sister’s, but Cyrus thought it looked better on him. There was a voice in the back of Cyrus’s head that told him that he wanted to be able to make TJ that happy all the time, but he tried to tell himself that it was just because of his compulsive need to make everyone happy (ignoring the fact that he hadn’t had the same thought about the other three).

Cyrus helped them each get their own bowl of ice cream and explained all the various toppings. Then, he got another bowl for Buffy, which he gave to Marty. He grabbed his plate, piling cookies on it before leading them back to the table.

He sat down, handing Iris her cupcake and Jonah and Andi the cookies.

“So you got everyone except for me dessert? Typical.” Buffy crossed her arms.

Marty set a bowl of ice cream in front of her. “My lady.”

Buffy looked at him in shock. “I’m nobody’s lady.” Andi nudged her with her elbow. “But thank you, Marty.” He smiled and started eating his own ice cream.

 

The next day, Cyrus woke up early, so he could take the VK’s to breakfast. He decided to go to the boys’ dorm first because it was closer, and it was good that he did because when he got there, the girls were already in the room. He chose to believe that they had simply gotten there early, as opposed to having slept in there, but he knew that was unlikely. At the very least, he chose not to comment on it. “So, are you guys ready for breakfast?”

 

He walked them through the buffet line, explaining all the new foods. They didn’t seem to understand why the food at breakfast was so different from the food at lunch and supper, and he had a hard time explaining it, considering he didn’t fully understand why either.

When they got toward the end of the table, TJ pointed at the muffins. “Didn’t you eat one of those for dessert last night? Why do they have them at breakfast?”

Cyrus smiled. “Ah, you see, that was a cupcake. These are muffins. Which are far superior. You should try one.” He pointed out the different kinds. “There’s blueberry, lemon poppy seed, banana nut, and my personal favorite: chocolate chocolate chip.” He grabbed a chocolate chocolate chip muffin and watched TJ grab a blueberry one.

 

When they sat down, Marty asked where the others were.

“I think Buffy’s on a run, so she’ll eat breakfast later. The other three probably won’t get out of bed before noon.”

“Can I ask you another question?”

“Of course. And you don’t need to ask if you can ask a question. You can just ask the question.”

“Right. Sorry. How do I make Buffy like me?”

Cyrus smiled. “Well, first of all, you should probably cool it with the flirting.”

“That seems counterintuitive.”

Cyrus shook his head. “Buffy’s the type of person who has to be your friend before she’ll even consider dating you. Just like be nice to her and talk to her like a normal person. Get to know her. Maybe try out for the tourney team.” Cyrus shrugged.

“What’s tourney?”

“It’s a sport. I don’t really understand it, but Buffy’s the captain and Jonah’s on the team too, so I go to all the games. Ask her about it. Andi, Iris, and I are hopeless when it comes to sports, so I’m sure she’d love to have another person to talk to about it.”

“What’s the deal with her and Jonah anyway?”

“You don’t have to worry about him being like competition or whatever if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Jonah doesn’t do the whole ‘girlfriend’ thing.”

“Why not?”

Cyrus shrugged. “You’d have to ask him.”

“Is he gay?” Cyrus froze.  _ Close. Not quite. _ Not that he’d say that out loud.

“You sure ask a lot of questions.”

Marty shrugged. “You said I could ask you questions.”

“I did. But I was thinking more of questions about Auradon. Not so much about my friends’ personal lives.”

Amber butt in then. “How come you get all weird when we mention gay people? Is that like not allowed in Auradon or something?”

Cyrus sighed. “It’s not  _ not _ allowed. But it is… generally frowned upon. Not that most people will admit that out loud. My friends and I are all cool with it, but it’s not something that’s really talked about. I’m sorry if I seemed weird about it. I’m just not used to hearing people mention it so casually like that, so I was surprised.” He looked at all of them and saw that they all seemed a little sad. He was almost scared to ask, “How do they treat that kind of thing on the Isle?” but he did anyway.

Amber answered him. “It depends on who you ask. I mean, there are some people who are very traditional when it comes to stuff like gender roles, and there are others who figure our whole existence is all about denying society’s rules and expectations, so why follow that one? You learn pretty quickly which is which if you wanna stay alive.”

Cyrus nodded. That kind of made sense. “What made you decide you could trust me?”

“What makes you think we do?” He did not know how to respond to that.

He felt his phone vibrate and checked the time. “Oh, we should probably get going. You guys are supposed to meet with Fairy Godmother to discuss your classes.”

After putting away their dishes, they walked to Fairy Godmother’s office in an awkward silence. “Ok, this is where I leave you. I’m pretty busy all day, so I probably won’t see you until tomorrow. Good luck.” He knocked on the door and waited for Fairy Godmother to answer it before walking off to attend to his princely duties.

 

He wasn’t able to really think about the conversation from breakfast until he made it back to his dorm after having dinner with his parents (during which they had asked him all about the VK’s). As soon as he got to his room, he felt ready to pass out, but when he actually went to bed, he couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking about that conversation. There was a lot to unpack there, and he didn’t know where to start.

Eventually, he must have drifted off to sleep at some point because he was suddenly waking up to his alarm. He may have hit snooze too many times to be able to go get breakfast or to go meet up with the VK’s before class. He got dressed as quickly as he could, grabbed a muffin from his not-so-secret stash in his desk, and hoped the best for the VK’s as he rushed to his first class of the day, which was history.

He walked in just before the bell rang and saw TJ sitting alone at a table in the back. He walked over to him. “Is this seat taken?”

TJ smiled at him. “Go ahead.”

Cyrus smiled as he sat down, and the teacher got started with his lecture. The two of them both started taking notes. About ten minutes into class, He noticed that TJ had a confused look on his face (not that Cyrus had been staring at his face, nope). He tore a piece of paper out of his notebook and wrote, ‘You ok?’ on it, passing it to TJ.

He noticed TJ smile when he saw it. ‘yeah, they just taught us this stuff differently back home.’

‘Oh. I guess that makes sense. Different perspectives.’

‘i wonder which one’s more accurate.’

‘I want to say our version, but I realize I’m biased. There’s probably some truth in both stories.’

‘i don’t know. they’re pretty contradictory.’

‘So… you seem to care a lot about history?’

‘maybe. so?’

‘That’s cool.’

‘is it?’

‘Yep’

Cyrus didn’t get another response after that, so he tried to focus on the lecture. The bell finally rang to let them out of class. “So, what class do you have next?”

“Algebra.” TJ made a disgusted face as he said it.

“I think you have that with Andi. Don’t worry, she hates it too.”

TJ laughed at that, and they started to walk out of the classroom.

“Do you want me to walk you to class? It’s on the way to mine.” That was a lie, but TJ didn’t need to know that.

TJ looked pleasantly surprised at the offer. “Sure.”

They didn’t really talk as they walked, but it was a comfortable silence. When they got to TJ’s class, they waved goodbye to each other. “Seeya later?” TJ seemed a little unsure as he asked.

“Definitely.” Cyrus smiled at him and was relieved to get a small smile in return. With that, TJ walked into the classroom, and Cyrus walked off to his own class.

When he got to his next class, which was English, he saw Amber and Kira sitting together at a table in the back of the room. He waved to them, and they waved back, and then he sat at his usual table with Buffy at the front of the classroom.

He tried paying attention to the teacher, but it was so boring, and thinking about TJ was so much more interesting.  _ No, stop. You’ve only known him for like two days and you know Nothing can happen. _ No matter how much he tried to tell himself that, he couldn’t get the boy out of his mind. He noticed Buffy passing him a note.

‘Are you ok?’

‘GAY!’

‘TJ?’

‘TJ.’

‘I’m sorry’

‘Why does he have to be so cute?’

‘idk. Are you going to do anything about it?’

‘How can I? You know as well as I do that I’m expected to marry a princess. Like Iris. Not a villain kid. And especially not a boy.’

‘Who said anything about marriage? You’re 16. You should be allowed to just live your life and date whoever you want.’

‘I’m going to be king in a couple months. You know it’s not that simple.’

‘I know. What do you see in him anyway? He’s barely said 2 words since he got here.’

‘He has nice eyes.’

‘You really do have a type, don’t you?’

‘Shut up.’


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TJ's first couple months at Auradon Prep are a bit of a roller coaster.

The first couple weeks of classes passed in a bit of a blur for TJ. He actually liked most of his classes, except for math; though, he was surprised to find that he actually enjoyed Andi’s company in that class. They had instantly bonded over their hatred of the subject. One day, Andi had noticed him doodling in his notes and asked him about it. At first, he was embarrassed, but then he looked over at her notes and saw that they were also covered in doodles. She showed him some of her art and eventually managed to get him to show her some if his; ever since then she’d been trying to get him to join her art class. He thought about it, but he didn’t really like the idea of being graded on his art.

His favorite class was history, and not just because of the subject itself. While he had always been interested in history (not that anybody needed to know that), the real reason he liked the class was because it was the only class he shared with Cyrus. Every morning, they found themselves talking before and after class and passing notes during class. TJ wasn’t really sure what it was, but he found himself drawn to the other boy. He had known he was cute right away of course, but it was more than that. There were moments when they were alone together, usually working on homework, where TJ was almost certain that Cyrus felt it too, but then he would remind himself that Cyrus had a girlfriend.

Amber was sure that there was something off about Cyrus and Iris’s relationship, but TJ thought that was just wishful thinking, since Amber clearly had a thing for Iris. He, on the other hand, was trying not to get his hopes up.

 

One day, during the first week, the four VK’s were in the boys’ dorm working on homework, or attempting to anyway; TJ was pretty sure they had all given up after about five minutes. Kira suddenly spoke up. “So, what’s our plan to steal Fairy Godmother’s wand?”

They all looked over at her in surprise. TJ asked, “What are you talking about?”

She seemed confused by his confusion. “Our parents told us-”

“Our parents aren’t here.” Amber interrupted her. “We don’t have to do what they say anymore.”

“But don’t you want to, you know, free them and help them take over Auradon?”

“We’re already free. Why should we care about them?”

Kira looked at the others’ faces like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Am I the only one here who actually likes my parent?”

The other three looked at each other, and Marty answered, “Uh yeah, pretty much.”

Kira looked at them again in confusion before a determined look settled on her face. “Fine. I’ll just get the wand myself then.” She stood up to leave.

Amber smiled at her. “Good luck with that.”

Kira got her stuff and left the room.

“Should we be concerned about that?” Marty asked after she left, and TJ had to admit he was also a little worried.

“Nah, she’ll try. She’ll fail. It’s not out problem.” Amber waved their concerns away. After that, they went back to their homework, but quickly gave up and started playing video games instead. TJ decided that video games were one of his favorite things about Auradon.

After that incident, Kira stopped sleeping in the boys’ dorm, which was fine by the others. She was still friendly when they saw her around school, and she still ate most of her meals with them, but she generally kept to herself outside of that.

 

Marty had taken Cyrus’s advice about joining the tourney team, and he had dragged TJ and Kira along with him. (This had been before the Incident, as TJ had taken to referring to it in his mind, but she wasn’t about to quit just because of that.) TJ was surprised to find that it was actually a lot of fun. It was nice to have a healthy outlet for his competitiveness. It helped that his teammates seemed to be the only students, outside of Cyrus’s friend group, who weren’t afraid of the villain kids.

 

A couple weeks after they arrived, they had their first game. TJ thought the game was a lot of fun, and they absolutely destroyed the other team, which made it all the better. TJ wasn’t sure he had ever felt this kind of happiness before, from accomplishing something as a part of a team. When the game was over, Cyrus, Amber, Andi, and Iris came over to congratulate the team. TJ tried to hide his disappointment (which he refused to admit was jealousy) when Cyrus ran over and hugged Buffy.

After the game, there was a party to celebrate. TJ didn’t really like parties, but he felt like he should probably go, seeing as he was on the team. Besides, it was his first Auradon party, and he thought it might be interesting to see what they were like, compared to parties on the Isle. Plus, Amber pointed out, Cyrus would be there.

Unfortunately, Cyrus spent the entire party attached at the hip to Iris while TJ and Amber spent most of the party sitting on a couch and trying to pretend like they weren’t staring at the couple. A few people did come over and try to talk to them a couple times throughout the night, but he was pretty sure they weren’t exactly giving off the friendliest vibes, if the way most people seemed to avoid them was any indication.

“Why do we have to stay here?” he asked his sister at one point.

“Because to leave would be to admit defeat.”

“And staying accomplishes what exactly?”

“Well, for one, we can say we’ve been to an Auradon party.”

“Yeah, I guess. They’re a lot different from Isle parties, that’s for sure.”

“I know. They don’t even have any alcohol. Like, what is this?” She looked down at the cup in her hand like it had personally offended her. “What’s even the point?”

“Exactly, so we should go.”

“No.  _ I’m _ not a coward.”

So, they stayed. They only left when they noticed that a majority of the people there were starting to leave, which was only at like midnight.  _ Typical goody-goody Auradon kids. _ Not that he was complaining about not having to stay longer.

 

Overall, the VK’s seemed to be getting along surprisingly well at Auradon Prep. TJ wasn’t exactly keeping tabs on Kira, but she seemed to be getting along with their teammates pretty well. And she seemed to be enjoying having her and Amber’s room to herself. The other three were getting closer to Cyrus’s friend group (the good hair crew, Cyrus called them). Marty and Buffy were actually getting pretty close; he had even started running with her in the mornings. Amber was getting closer to Iris, which TJ would tell her was a bad idea if that wouldn’t make him a hypocrite. No matter how much he told himself that nothing could happen, TJ couldn’t stop himself from falling for Cyrus, which was absolutely terrifying.

Other students seemed to be slowly becoming less afraid of the VK’s. Amber had even started using their mother’s spellbook to give kids makeovers, which TJ thought was dumb until he found out that she was actually charging them for it. TJ, on the other hand, had no interest in magic. Unless there was a spell to make him good at math. Which there wasn’t. He had checked.

TJ was finally starting to feel like maybe he fit in. He had his friends. He was playing a sport he loved. Andi had been encouraging him to do more art, although he still wasn’t showing it to anyone else. And even though a part of him wished they could be something more, he genuinely enjoyed being Cyrus’s friend. And it was hard to be mad at Iris when she just was so nice. He was also doing well in most of his classes (if you ignored math, which he usually did). He should have known it was only a matter of time before something went wrong.

 

About a month after they got to Auradon, Family Day arrived. TJ had assumed that the VK’s would be spending the day in their room avoiding people, but apparently Fairy Godmother had a surprise for them. The four of them walked into the classroom where they had their Remedial Goodness classes and saw Fairy Godmother standing in front of a tv screen and smiling widely.

“Good morning, kids. So, I know that today is Family Day, and since your parents can’t be here, I decided to set up this little surprise, so you can talk to them.” TJ had a bad feeling about this. The four of them stood in front of the blank tv. Fairy Godmother pressed some buttons on a remote, which she set on the desk next to the tv, and stepped to the side, so she’d be out of their way but could still listen in.

Maleficent, Gaston, and Dr. Facillier appeared on the screen. They were sitting on the couch in Maleficent's living room. “Kids, can you hear us?”

“Yes, mom, we can hear you.” TJ was glad Amber answered because he didn’t trust himself to speak.

“Oh good. How’s Auradon? Are you being bad?”

“Yes, mom, we’re being really evil over here.” TJ had to stop himself from smiling at the look on Fairy Godmother’s face at Amber’s words.

“Oh good. Good.”

Dr. Faciller spoke up then. “So, when do you think we might see you kids again?”  _ Hopefully, never.  _ TJ knew exactly what he was really asking: how close are you to getting the wand?

Kira answered her father. “Hopefully soon, daddy. I miss you.”

“I miss you too, Kira. You better make me proud.”

Kira nodded.

“So, Marty, have you found any pretty girls yet?”

Marty looked down, and TJ noticed a faint blush on his cheeks. Marty never really was good at hiding his feelings.

“Ah, you have. I can tell. Tell me, who is she?”

“Her name is Buffy. And she’s Mulan’s daughter.”

“Mulan? That’s the one who dressed up like a man to join the army, right?” Marty nodded. TJ did not like where this was headed. “Well, if she’s anything like her mom, you should stay away from her. You don’t want a girl like that. At that point, you might as well be dating a boy.”

Marty looked up at his father, and if TJ could stop the next words that came from Marty’s mouth, he would. “And what exactly would be wrong with that?” TJ had never seen Marty talk back to his dad before.

“Excuse me?”

Amber quickly grabbed the remote and ended the call before they could hear Gaston’s inevitable tirade. Marty backed up and leaned against the desk behind him. Amber put her hand on his arm. “Are you ok?” Marty nodded, but TJ could see that he was shaking slightly.

“Why’d you do that?” TJ asked him.

Marty shrugged. “I guess I figured I never have to see him again, so why not?”

Fairy Godmother walked up to them. “I am so sorry. I had no idea that would happen. I guess I just assumed-”

“What? That villains care about their kids?” Amber didn’t say it angrily, but Fairy Godmother flinched slightly.

She decided to try to distract them from what had just happened. “Why don’t you kids go outside and join the festivities?”

“Are we allowed to?” TJ asked.

“Well, of course. You are students at this school after all; you should go mingle with the other students. It should be fun. And maybe it’ll help take your mind off of…” She gestured behind her toward the screen. “And the food should be good.”

Marty perked up slightly at that, so the four let Fairy Godmother lead them outside to where the Family Day celebrations were in full swing.

 

They kinda stood around awkwardly for a minute before Cyrus come up to them, followed by his parents. “You came.”

TJ smiled at him. “Of course we came.”

Cyrus smiled back. “I’m glad you all could make it. Guys, these are my parents.” He gestured to the couple behind him, and they all introduced themselves.

Cinderella said, “It’s nice to finally meet you all. We’ve heard so much about you.”

TJ raised his eyebrow at Cyrus, who just shrugged in response.

They talked for a few more minutes before the King said, “Well, we should probably go mingle with some of the other guests. It was nice to meet you.” And the three Charmings left.

They walked around for a bit, still feeling a bit awkward. They considered trying to talk to some of their other friends, but they all seemed busy with their parents, and they didn’t want to intrude. At some point, Kira vanished to who knows where, and Marty walked off when he saw Buffy standing alone by the food. Eventually, the twins ran into Cyrus again, who was now with Iris and her parents. They went through the whole introduction thing with them. Belle and Adam seemed a bit less enthusiastic than Cyrus’s parents were to be meeting villain kids. TJ was privately glad Marty wasn’t with them. The conversation was going alright though, if a bit awkward. He happily let Amber do most of the talking.

And Then, they were interrupted by an old lady, Queen Leah TJ later learned, who wanted to speak with Iris’s parents. She seemed polite enough at first. She made some comment about Cyrus and Iris being a cute couple and then asked who Amber and TJ were. Amber was about to answer her when she was interrupted by Reed, who was a huge asshole TJ had quickly learned to avoid in his brief time at Auradon Prep.

“Oh grandma, I don’t think you want to talk to these two. Not unless you feel like taking another hundred-year nap.”

The woman looked at the two in confusion before a look of realization crossed her face as she looked at Amber. “You? But how?”

Even after Cyrus reassured her that Amber was not actually Maleficent, but her daughter, she kept shouting about how dare Cyrus put her grandson in danger by bringing the children of their worst enemies here. Cyrus and Iris tried to calm her down, but it was too late. They had caused a scene and drawn a crowd. There was more shouting, but TJ couldn’t hear what anyone was saying. TJ felt his heart beating too fast, and he was having trouble breathing. He heard a gasp and felt more than saw everyone take a step back from him. He looked down and saw green flames in his hands. He took a step back and stumbled into Amber.

Cyrus stepped up to him, despite protests from pretty much everyone. He reached out slowly, the way one might approach a wounded animal, and wiped away a tear that TJ didn’t remember shedding. “TJ?” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the flames fade away as he he looked into Cyrus’s eyes. Suddenly, Amber was grabbing his hand and they were running. He barely registered Marty and Kira follow with them. As they ran, he looked back, but the look he saw on Cyrus’s face made him wish he hadn’t.

Somehow, they made it back to the room, and he sat on his bed. Amber sat next to him and helped him calm down while the other two sat on the other bed. Eventually, he started to feel back to normal. “Are you ok?” his sister asked him.

He nodded and looked up at Amber and then looked down at his hands. In his mind, he could still see the bright green flames. “What was that?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I know we have magic, but usually it requires spells. My best guess is that it’s a result of your magic being repressed for so long combined with your emotions suddenly spiking in the moment.” TJ nodded at her as if that made sense. She put her arm around him. “It’s going to be ok.”

He shook his head. “You saw them. They hate us. What if… What if they send us back?”

“That’s not going to happen.” He tried to believe Amber’s words.

“It’s not going to happen if we steal the wand and destroy the barrier.”

Amber rolled her eyes at Kira. “Not this again Kira. We already told you we don’t want any part in that.”

“Yeah, did you miss the part earlier today where I said I never want to see my dad again. How desperate are you for our help?”

“I don’t  _ need _ your help. I have a plan. I just thought you might want to get in on it now that you’ve seen exactly what these people really think of us.”

“And what exactly is your plan?” Amber asked.

“Simple. The coronation.” They all gave her blank looks. “The wand is going to be there. And we have front-row seats. We just have to wait for the right moment and grab it.”

TJ thought her plan was too simple. Too many things could go wrong. There was no way it would work, which was good because the last thing he wanted was for his mom to rule over Auradon. He decided not to say that though. “Good luck with that.” The other two just gave her annoyed and apathetic looks. Kira just rolled her eyes and left.

A while later, Marty declared that he was hungry and left, only to return a few minutes later with food. TJ decided not to ask where he got it.

 

On Monday at school, people avoided them even more than they had when they had first arrived. Everyone had just gone right back to being scared of them. After a particularly rude comment from a classmate, Amber undid the hair spell she had done on the girl, and made it clear that she wasn’t afraid to use magic on anyone else who made similar comments. Even Cyrus’s friends seemed wary of them. Cyrus still talked to TJ in history, but they didn’t eat together anymore.

To make matters worse, a few days later, TJ found out that he was failing math, and if he didn’t get his grades up, he’d be kicked off the tourney team. And of course, Buffy was made his tutor. They barely made it ten minutes into their tutoring session before they both got frustrated with each other. And then, Buffy had the nerve to suggest that he might have a learning disability. He didn’t even bother staying behind to hear her explanation. He just did what he did best; he ran.

He didn’t even pay attention to where he was running. He went outside and into the trees behind the school. He came across a clearing that, for some reason, had nothing but an old, abandoned swingset. Except it wasn’t quite abandoned because there was a person on one of the two swings.

“Cyrus?”

The boy in question looked over at TJ as he approached the swings. He seemed surprised to see him, but the look was quickly replaced by a smile. “Hey, TJ.”

“Do you come here often?” And ok, maybe that was a cheesy pick-up line, but he couldn’t think of anything better to say.

“Only when I’m feeling bad about myself. So fairly often.” He gestured for TJ to sit on the other swing, so he did.

“You’re the crown prince of Auradon. What do you have to feel bad about?”

Cyrus shrugged. “I’ve got stuff.”

“Betcha I got more stuff.” TJ started to swing.

“Oh yeah? So what brings you out here then?”

It scared TJ a little bit, how comfortable he was talking with Cyrus about his feelings. “I’m failing math. And they might kick me off the tourney team. I don’t see how the two things are even related.”

“I’m sorry. Are you getting help? Like a tutor or something?”

TJ nodded. “Buffy’s supposed to be tutoring me. It… didn’t go well.”

“Oh. Maybe you need a new tutor?”

“What I need is a new brain.” He stopped pumping his legs, letting his arms hang down and the swing start to slow down.

“What’s wrong with yours?”

“Buffy thinks I might have this math dyslexia thing.”

“Dyscalculia. It’s pretty common. Not worth replacing your brain.”

“Dude. It’s a learning disability. As if there aren’t already enough things wrong with me. First, I’m a villain kid, and then I’m gay. I don’t need another reason for people to hate me.”

Cyrus reached over and grabbed his hand. TJ turned his head and looked into his eyes. “TJ, there is nothing wrong with you.” For some reason, when Cyrus said it, TJ actually believed him. Cyrus looked away but didn’t let go of his hand. “And Buffy’s a good tutor. She tutors other kids with dyscalculia. She knows what she’s doing. She can help you. If you let her. And so can your teacher. You just have to talk to him about it; he can’t fail you for having a disability.”

“He can’t?”

“Nope. All you have to do is reach out and let people help you, and you won’t have to worry about being kicked off the team.”

“Thank you, Cyrus.”

Cyrus shrugged and tilted his head to the side while smiling. TJ found it almost annoyingly adorable.

They swung slowly in silence for a few more minutes before Cyrus spoke again. “I’m sorry.”

TJ looked at him, confused. “What for?”

“That my friends and I have been avoiding you guys for the past few days. I know that what happened on Family Day wasn’t your fault. But it kind of spooked everyone, and Buffy isn’t exactly the most trusting person, and the rest of us aren’t really good at standing up to her when her mind is set on something. I’ll talk to her though. And everyone else.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to. I’m sure it’s not exactly been easy for the four of you here, and you deserve to have a support system. I’m sorry for not being there when you needed it most.”

“I’m fine. I have Amber.”

“I know. But still.” Cyrus squeezed his hand.

TJ felt calmer than he had in a long time. “I’m sorry, too. For scaring everyone.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“I know. But still.”

They went back to swinging in silence. TJ was about to ask Cyrus why he had been out here in the first place when Cyrus spoke. “We should probably head up to the castle. Do you wanna get dinner together?”

TJ couldn’t shake the feeling that that sounded a lot like Cyrus was asking him on a date, but he reminded himself that Cyrus has a girlfriend. The fact that Cyrus was still holding his hand weakened that argument substantially. “Are you sure your bodyguards would be ok with that?”

Cyrus shrugged as he stood up, finally letting go of TJ’s hand. “I’m about to be king. They can’t tell me what to do.”

TJ smiled at Cyrus as he stood up. He put his arm around him as they started walking off together. “I think we both know that’s not quite true.”

As they approached the castle, Cyrus not-quite-as-subtley-as-he-probably-thought shook TJ’s arm off his shoulder, and TJ tried not to let that upset him.

 

The next day after school, TJ talked to Buffy, and together they went to talk to their math teacher, Mr. Coleman. Things started to look up again after that. For the first time in his life, TJ was actually getting help with math in a way that made some amount of sense. Cyrus’s friends started talking to the VK’s again. And TJ even found himself spending more alone time with Cyrus. Amber warned him that it probably wasn’t a very good idea to let himself fall for Cyrus.  _ Too late for that _ . TJ pointed out that Cyrus spending alone with him meant that Iris had more free time to spend time with Amber. If he was going down, he was taking Amber with him.

A couple weeks later, TJ was spending his Saturday morning playing video games with Marty while Amber sat next to them on her phone. They heard a knock on the door, and TJ didn’t look up as he heard Amber get up to answer it. When he heard Cyrus’s voice asking for him though, he paused the game, put down his remote, and went to the door. He barely registered Amber taking his seat, his remote, and his place in the game.

Cyrus smiled at him. “Come with me.”

TJ smiled back, but tilted his head to the side in confusion. “Where are we going?” Like the answer would make much of a difference. TJ would probably go anywhere with Cyrus.

“It’s a surprise.” TJ was intrigued. He put on his shoes, grabbed a jacket, waved goodbye to Marty and Amber (who barely seemed to notice), and followed Cyrus out the door.

They ended up behind the castle where a lone motorbike was sitting with a basket on the back and two helmets. TJ looked at Cyrus with a raised eyebrow. He couldn’t picture Cyrus owning a motorbike.

Cyrus shrugged. “It’s Andi’s. She’s letting me borrow it. Although, I’ve only driven it like twice, and she was there both times, so maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

TJ could tell Cyrus was starting to ramble nervously, so he cut him off. “Would you feel better if I drove?”

“Do you know how?”

TJ nodded. “Yeah; although, you’ll have to tell me where we’re going.”

They put on their helmets and got on the bike. TJ tried not to think about Cyrus’s arms wrapped around his waist, but it was a struggle. He managed to focus on driving and the directions Cyrus was giving him well enough that they made it to where Cyrus told him to stop. They were in the woods and stopped right before a long rope bridge. They parked and got off of the bike. They left their helmets with the bike, and TJ grabbed the basket before Cyrus could insist on taking it; he was glad he did because it was heavier than it looked. He gestured for Cyrus to lead the way, and they started walking across the bridge.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did.” TJ couldn’t see Cyrus’s face, but he could practically feel him rolling his eyes. “But go ahead.”

“What does TJ stand for?”

“Ah. See, I think that’s more of a second date question, maybe even third date.” What was he saying? This wasn’t a date? Was it?

Cyrus didn’t seem fazed though. “Really? I feel like someone’s name should be a ‘before the first date’ question.”

“Does that mean I have to tell you my name before you’ll go on a date with me?”

Cyrus stopped then and turned around. They were about halfway across the bridge. Cyrus’s face was a little pink, and TJ felt his own heating up slightly. Cyrus tilted his head to the side. “I might be willing to make an exception for you.”

Cyrus started to turn around, but TJ grabbed his wrist to stop him. “Wait. Is this a date?”

Cyrus looked at him. “Do you want it to be?”

_ Yes _ . “Would your girlfriend want it to be?”

Cyrus looked down. “Well, she kind of helped plan it, so I think she’d be cool with it.”

_ Wait what? _ “Wait what?”

Cyrus sighed and looked back up at TJ. “Iris isn’t actually my girlfriend.”  _ What!? _ “I’m gay.”  _ WHAT?! _ “Iris and I have been pretending to date for about a year now, ever since I came out to her. I love her, but not like that.” He took a deep breath and looked down. “We never really talked about what would happen if one of us started to actually like someone else because we didn’t expect it to ever happen. But now it is happening, and I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but Iris said she wants me to be happy, and you make me happy.” He looked up again. “So to answer your question, yes, Iris is ok with this being a date. Are you?”

Honestly, the whole thing was a lot to process, and TJ didn’t really know how he felt about all of it. What he did know was that he liked Cyrus, and he desperately wanted this to be a date. “Yes.”

Cyrus smiled and took his hand, and the two continued walking.

Eventually, they stopped near a lake. There was some kind of broken down stone structure that looked as though it once had six pillars, but only three were still intact. Cyrus took the basket from TJ, opening it up to reveal a picnic. The two of them set it up together and sat down to eat. As they ate and talked, it was like the rest of the world didn’t exist; it was just the two of them enjoying each other’s company.

After they had finished eating and had been just sitting there talking for a while, Cyrus suddenly got up.

“What are you doing?”

“I wanna swim in the lake.” He started taking off his clothes. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Um, you do that. I’m just gonna stay here and… eat another muffin.” Cyrus just shrugged and kept going. “What’s that on your shorts?”

Cyrus blushed and looked down. “Dinosaurs.”

“What’s a dinosaur?”

Cyrus looked slightly offended. “Oh, you’re going to regret asking that. But I think I’ll save that rant for our next date.” He smirked and then turned around and jumped in the lake.

TJ was excited to hear Cyrus’s explanation of what exactly a dinosaur is, but he was more excited about the idea that they would get to have a second date. After what felt like way too long, TJ started to worry that Cyrus hadn’t resurfaced yet. He didn’t really know much about swimming, so he wasn’t sure how long most people could hold their breath, not to mention he didn’t exactly have a very good grasp on the passage of time, so he wasn’t really sure how long it had been.  _ Fuck it. _ He took off his jacket and jumped in the lake. He ended up with a nose full of water and started coughing. Suddenly, he felt Cyrus’s arms around him, and he was being pulled back toward dry land. TJ was able to pull himself back up onto the concrete.

Cyrus stayed in the water and looked up at him. “You can’t swim.” It wasn’t a question; it was an observation.

TJ looked down, feeling embarrassed. “No.”

“You live on an island.”

TJ looked at Cyrus. “Yeah, with a barrier around it.”

“Why’d you jump in?”

TJ decided to ignore the question. “How come you were under the water for so long?”

“I saw a cool-looking rock.” Cyrus shrugged and held up the rock in question as proof. It was dark green-ish and kinda sparkley. (Later, when he showed it to Amber, she said it matched his eyes, which he vehemently denied.)

TJ couldn’t help but laugh at that, and then Cyrus started laughing too.

 

A little while later, they were both sitting on the ground, leaning against one of the pillars, with towels wrapped around their shoulders. Their entire sides were touching from their legs up to their shoulders. TJ decided to bring up the thing he had been trying to avoid thinking about all day, effectively popping their private little bubble and bringing them down to reality. “So, what are we?”

Cyrus looked over at him. “What do you mean?”

“Like, are we just gonna keep dating in secret while you keep pretending to date Iris in public? How long do you think we could keep that going?”

Cyrus sighed, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. “I don’t know. I had this whole plan. I honestly thought I could just stay with Iris forever. We’d get married eventually, have a kid (although I tried not to think too much about the mechanics of how that would happen), and I’d just never have romantic love. And I was fine with that, and Iris was fine with that. I thought I would always be fine with only platonic and familial love for my whole life. And to an extent, I still think maybe I could live with that; I know romance isn’t the end-all, be-all of life. And like, I’ve had crushes before, but I never really felt the need to change the plan. I never really wanted a boyfriend  _ that _ badly. And then I met you. And you threw a wrench in the plan. Because how could I not like you?”

“I could think of a few reasons.”

Cyrus mock-scolded him. “Oh hush. I don’t want any of that self-deprecating nonsense right now. You’re incredible. Just accept it. If I have to make a list of reasons why I like you, I will. Don’t tempt me.” TJ just laughed and gestured for Cyrus to go on. “Right. So I met you. And now I don’t know what to do. I can’t just pretend like I don’t have feelings for you. I can’t pretend to be ok with being forced into a heterosexual marriage to please my parents anymore. But it’s not just my parents. I have a whole kingdom to run, and I don’t know how they’d react to their king being gay. Plus, there’s the whole ‘not being able to produce an heir’ thing, that I know people will latch onto, and how can I even argue with that?”

“Hypothetically, couldn’t you just adopt a kid? I mean, Buffy’s adopted, and people seem cool with that?”

“You clearly haven’t been paying enough attention. People are constantly telling Buffy and Andi that they aren’t really sisters. It’s awful. And with my hypothetical kids, people will use that prejudice to deny their claim to the throne.”

“That’s years in the future though. In the meantime, you have the power to change people’s minds.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“If anyone can do it, you can.”

“Thank you. And I’m sorry that we have to hide our relationship. I think I might want to come out at some point. I think with you by my side, I might actually be able to. But not yet. I’m just not ready.”

TJ held Cyrus’s hand. “Hey, I get it. Take as long as you need. I just wanna be with you. I don’t care how.” Cyrus leaned his head on TJ’s shoulder. “Can I tell Amber though? And maybe Marty too? I don’t think I could hide it from them.”

“Yeah, you can tell them. And Iris, Buffy, Andi, and Jonah all already know. They all kind of helped plan this whole thing.” He gestured with his free hand to everything around them.

“Jonah helped you plan this romantic picnic?”

“Ok, well he was there. The girls did most of the planning.”

“Well, be sure to thank them for me. This is definitely the best date I’ve ever been on.”

Cyrus lifted up his head, turning his body slightly to face him better. “Have you ever been on a date before?”

“That depends. Does making out with Marty in a closet while we hide from his dad count as a date?”

Cyrus laughed. “I don’t think so. But I’ve also never been on a real date with someone I actually like before, so what do I know?”

“Do you not count any of your dates with Iris?”

Cyrus shrugged. “I guess I could count the few from before I realized I was gay, but after that, they never really felt real, like it’s all an act. On our first date, which was actually a double date with Andi and Jonah, who I had a huge crush on at the time, but obviously didn’t realize it yet, I got so nervous I puked into my shoe. So yeah, I generally try not to think about the Time I Thought I Was Straight. It was a dark time.” Cyrus shook his head. “This is much better.”

TJ laughed and put his arm around Cyrus, pulling him in to his side. TJ kissed the top of Cyrus’s head. “Yeah. It is.” Cyrus curled up even closer to TJ, and they sat like that in silence for a while longer.

 

When TJ made it back to his room later, he collapsed face-down on his bed.

“So how was your date?” Amber teased him.

He smiled into his pillow. “It was great.”

“Wait. You’re not even going to deny that it was a date?” He heard her walking toward him.

“Nope.”

“Was it?”

“Yep.” He turned over to look at her and saw the shock on her face. She was standing in front of him, and Marty was on the couch pretending not to listen to them.

“Wait. I wanna be happy for you, but if he’s cheating on Iris, I will fight him.”

TJ sat up. “He’s not cheating on Iris because they’re not dating.”

“They broke up?”

“No. They were never dating. They’ve been pretending this whole time because, you know, homophobia exists.”

“Oh.” She sat down next to him. “So what now? You two are going to date in secret while they keep pretending to date?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“And you’re ok with that?”

TJ shrugged. “What other option is there? I want to be with him, and this is the only way to do it.”

She put her hand on his knee. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

He looked at her. “I’ll be fine. Besides, you should be happy about this news.”

“Why?”

“Because it means that Iris is technically single.” He smirked at her as she looked away to try to hide her blush.

“Shut up.” She pushed him, and he just laughed. “So. You went on your first real date today.”

“I did.”

“So? Tell me everything.”

Marty came over then and sat on his bed facing them. “Ooh, yes. Tell us everything.”

It crossed TJ’s mind that maybe it should feel weird to talk about his date with his ex, but it didn’t. Sitting there, talking to his best friend and his sister about his first real boyfriend, TJ felt like just a normal teenager, for maybe the first time ever.

 

With Cyrus’s coronation only a month away, he got busier and busier and didn’t have as much time to spend with any of his friends, let alone to go on more dates with TJ. They did manage to fit one in though. True to his word, Cyrus showed TJ a documentary about dinosaurs, which TJ found fascinating. This was immediately followed by an hour-long tangent on the subject, which TJ found adorable.

After what felt like no time at all, Coronation Day arrived. The VK’s got dressed in their fancy clothes Andi had helped them pick out and tailored for them (adding her own personal touch, of course). Then, they headed to the throne room where the coronation was taking place. Kira had been right about them getting font-row seats. Amber figured it was probably some sort of publicity thing to show off how good the VK’s were now.

When Cyrus walked in with Iris on his arm, TJ tried to ignore how much it hurt to see them together. He knew it was dumb. He knew Cyrus liked him and not Iris, but he couldn’t help but wish it was him on Cyrus’s arm, that they could actually be together in public. TJ tried to pay attention to the ceremony, but he didn’t really take in much of what was going on. He mostly just watched Cyrus. He noticed when Fairy Godmother took out the wand though. And just as she was putting it away again, he noticed as it was snatched out of her hand.

Kira didn’t have much experience with magic like this though, so she couldn’t control the wand. As she struggled with it, a beam of light escaped from the wand, smashing a hole in a window and going off to who knows where. TJ had a feeling he knew where, but he tried not to think about it, focusing instead on getting the wand from Kira. He really hadn’t expected her to actually go through with this. With Amber and Marty’s help, as everyone else basically just stood back uselessly in shock, TJ got the wand from her. He barely registered Fairy Godmother telling him to give it to her as he stared at it. He could feel its magic. He wasn’t sure if he liked the feeling very much.

Suddenly, a cloud of green smoke came in through the hole in the window and transformed into his mother right in front of him. She cackled, and everyone stepped back from her in fear. “Oh good. Give me the wand TJ.” She smiled at him.

He looked between her and the wand. He knew what would happen if he gave it to her. He also knew what would happen if he didn’t. He looked over and saw the fear in Cyrus’s face. Suddenly, the decision was easy. “No.” He looked right into his mother’s eyes.

She must have seen him looking at Cyrus because she smirked and walked over to him. TJ saw Cyrus’s parents take a step closer to their son, but Maleficent simply waved her scepter, and suddenly they were frozen in place, along with everyone else, except for her and the four VK’s. She reached over and grabbed Cyrus’s crown, looking at it for a second before putting it back on his head at an awkward angle. She looked back at TJ. “Well, Ty, I’d say he’s definitely an improvement from that one.” She pointed at Marty and the two boys looked at each other and then back at her. “What, did you think you two were being subtle? You know you can’t hide anything from me; I’m your mother.” She held her hand out to him. “Now, give me the wand. Don’t be stupid.”

Amber and Marty came up and stood on either side of him, with Amber slightly in front of him, but Kira was the one to speak up. “I’m the one who took the wand. Where’s my dad?”

Maleficent looked at her like she was a slightly annoying fly. “Don’t worry, dear. You and your father will be rewarded for your help once I’m in charge.”

Apparently, Kira never got the memo that you don’t stand up to Maleficent. She took a step closer to her. “What do you mean, when  _ you’re _ in charge? I thought you were going to rule  _ together _ .”

“Don’t be silly, dear. What do I need a man to rule with me for?” Kira looked betrayed, but it quickly changed into anger and determination. Maleficent either didn’t notice or didn’t care. She turned back to TJ. “Give me the wand, boy. I won’t ask again.”

“No.” He tried to instill confidence he didn’t really feel into the word.

Maleficent just looked annoyed. She waved her scepter again, and the room filled with green smoke. Suddenly, where his mom once stood, there was now a giant purple dragon. TJ grabbed his sister’s hand and ran. They hid behind a pillar, where they were quickly joined by Marty and Kira.

He looked angrily at Kira. “Brilliant plan, Kira. I can see this is working out just great for you.”

“How was I supposed to know she’d betray my dad?”

“She’s Maleficent! That’s what she does!”

“Guys, stop arguing. We need a plan.” TJ had to admit his sister had a point. He sent one last glare to Kira and then turned to Amber.

Just then, a blast of fire appeared right next to them, so they ran again. They were running away from the dragon when suddenly Amber stopped and turned to face their mother. The other three stopped right behind her. The dragon froze in surprise. Amber grabbed onto the wand, so she and TJ were holding it together. She stared directly into Maleficent’s glowing green eye. She took a deep breath. “The strength of evil is good as none, when stands before four hearts as one.” TJ got what Amber was trying to do, so he stood next to her, and also staring into his mother’s eye, he repeated the line in sync with his sister. He could feel the intensity of his mother’s stare as she tried to resist the spell. Marty and Kira stepped up and Marty grabbed onto TJ’s free hand as Kira held Amber’s. They joined in, repeating the spell with them. After one more time after that, Maleficent vanished into green smoke once more, and Fairy Godmother unfroze.

They walked down the aisle toward her, and she met them halfway, stopping where a small, purple lizard now stood where Maleficent once was.

“What happened?” TJ asked, looking down at the lizard. He, Amber, and Fairy Godmother kneeled down to look at it more closely.

“It appears as though she shrunk herself down to the size of the love in her heart.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” TJ held the wand out to her. “You should probably take this back.”

She took it and nodded. “Thank you.” She knelt down and picked up the lizard. “I’m sure we can find some place for her.”

Amber asked, “Is she stuck like that forever.”

Fairy Godmother shrugged. “Forever is a long time, dear. We’ll see.” Then, after the three of them stood up, she waved the wand, unfreezing everyone else.

TJ noticed Cyrus stumbling down the stairs and ran over to catch him without thinking. Cyrus didn’t let go, even after he had been steadied. He looked around the room and then back at TJ, smiling wide. “You did it.”

TJ smiled at him. “Surprise. I did the right thing.” And then, Cyrus surprised him by grabbing his face and kissing him right there in front of everyone. TJ could barely hear everyone’s gasps of shock over his own feeling of shock, which he quickly pushed away so he could kiss Cyrus back. He wasn’t exactly expecting their first kiss to be so public, but he ignored that for now and focused instead on how right it felt. Eventually, Cyrus pulled away, and all TJ could say was “Woah.”

Cyrus laughed and looked around the room, his facing turning pink. TJ followed his gaze to where Iris was now standing with Amber, Marty, and Kira. “Sorry, Iris. I guess I kinda blew our cover.”

Iris just laughed, waving his comment away. “Hey, no worries. You two enjoy your moment.” Then, she reached over and grabbed Amber’s hand. TJ barely suppressed a laugh at the look of shock on his sister’s face.

He looked back at Cyrus. He glanced down and noticed something. “You lost your shoe.”

Cyrus looked down at his foot. “Huh. That’s so on brand for me.”

TJ laughed and looked over at the stairs where Cyrus’s shoe was sitting. He noticed that Cyrus’s parents had seemed to recover from their shock and were coming down towards the boys. “He gets that from his mother.” Cinderella rolled her eyes and lightly hit her husband on the arm, but TJ noticed that she was smiling. He took the joke as a sign that they approved and sighed in relief.

“So, TJ, would you like to accompany me to the dance?”

TJ smiled at his boyfriend and held his hands. “I would love to.”

 

About half an hour later, the kids were all outside enjoying the dance and the fireworks. TJ and Cyrus approached Buffy and Andi, who appeared to be having an argument.

“What’s going on?” Cyrus asked.

“Andi’s too much of a coward to ask Libby to dance with her.”

“Who’s Libby?” The name sounded vaguely familiar to TJ, like someone, probably Andi, had mentioned it before, but he couldn’t place it.

Andi pointed to a pretty girl with strawberry-blonde hair and a teal dress; she seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with someone, a conversation that involved a lot of hand gestures. “Ariel’s daughter. She’s in my art class.”

“Andi has spent the past several months learning sign language just so she can talk to her, but she won’t actually do it.” Buffy seemed exasperated, as though she had had this conversation several times already.

“What if I mess up?”

Cyrus put his hands on Andi’s shoulders. “You won’t mess up. And even if you do, it will just show that you cared enough to try. Go ask her to dance. It will be ok.”

Andi nodded, taking a deep breath. “Ok.” She walked away.

Buffy sighed. “Finally.”

Just then, Marty came over and asked Buffy to dance. To everyone’s surprise, including Marty’s, she said yes, and the two walked off to the dance floor.

TJ and Cyrus stood together watching the people on the dance floor. TJ noticed that Iris and Amber were dancing together, which made him smile. He also noticed that Andi had apparently been successful, as she was now dancing with the girl she had pointed out to him, Libby. He saw Jonah talking to a group of people TJ didn’t really recognize. He even noticed Kira dancing with on of the guys from the tourney team. He still wasn’t really sure what to make of Kira, but he supposed she had helped them in the end, so he decided maybe she wasn’t all bad.

TJ thought for a moment, before coming to a decision. “Tyrone Jordan.”

“What?”

TJ looked over at Cyrus, who was looking at him in confusion. “That’s what TJ stands for. I did tell you that was a third-date kinda question, right?”

Cyrus laughed. “I guess you did. Does this mean I can call you Ty?” TJ decided he liked the way the nickname sounded coming from Cyrus much more than when it came from his mother.

TJ pretended to think for a moment. “Yeah, ok… Cy.” They both laughed and went back to their people-watching.

The music switched to a slow song, so TJ held out his hand to Cyrus. “Do you want to dance?” Cyrus took his hand and the two walked out onto the dance floor together.


End file.
